I went to the Portland Furniture showroom on SW 23rd to have a conversation with Dana about the sofabed her company made for me.
Weeks earlier, she called to say that my sofabed was finished and in her warehouse, ready for delivery. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to add the bed part to the order. So, no bed, just a sofa. Fine…people make mistakes. Luckily, we had no guests on the books. And, she absorbed the $250 cost of the eventual delivery. But during that brief conversation and more than once, she “joked” that even I didn’t notice the mistake. Was she suggesting, I should be responsible for checking her work? That was the first indication of trouble.
Then about 5 weeks later, the sofa bed arrived and as it was being taken off the truck I was surprised at how low the back looked. The back of the sofa is just over 13 inches in height, measured from the lowest point of the seat to take into account softening of the very hard cushion. It’s really uncomfortable. Her reply was that it was new and would soften. Not the issue but she stuck to that.
The issue is the height of the back. She measured the same style of sofa I bought, on her showroom floor, to find it was closer to 18” from the top of a softened seat. There’s no way my cushion is going to decrease by 5 inches, I wouldn’t have a cushion. My question to her was, when it was sent back to have the actual bed put in, did that mechanism raise the seat cushion, thereby creating an uncomfortable ratio between seat back and seat cushion? I never received a straight answer.
I also complained that the mattress was bouncy, therefore uncomfortable. She replied, that I was the only person that’s ever complained about that in all the years she’s been in business. Really? Then she pivoted to say that it’s “just” for my guests anyway. Again,really? My guest’s comfort is important to me. She suggested some augmentation with air to make the mattress more comfortable. I don’t see how that would cure the bouncing effect when one turns over.
I wanted to return the product for a full refund or at the very least a full store credit. She replied that it would be too great a loss for her. What about my loss? I traded $4,500 for a hard uncomfortable couch that will be barely used. Funny thing is, I was still in the market for an upholstered king size bed frame, a new couch and 2 chairs. Which, had I been satisfied with how the couch order was handled I would have happily commissioned her to make the needed items.
I went back a second time after she had sent photo’s of her own couch’s new seat cushion comparing it to the other seat cushion that had not been replaced, with the message, see how much thicker the new one is, yours will decrease in size overtime as well. Except, the angle and level at which the photo’s were taken were inconsistent with each other, I too took photo’s of my couch showing her that I can make a photo of the back height of the couch look 18 inches high or 13 inches high depending on the angle and level of the camera (it’s actually just over 13 inches high). And, I wondered how many years of constant use did it take for that seat cushion to finally be comfortable?
Right now and for the past 2 months the only thing sitting on the couch have been boxes of tile. In hopes of softening the upholstery which is very hard and uncomfortable. She suggested that I removed the cushion and jump on it. Not kidding!
So beware! If you shop here and there’s a problem you won’t have any recourse. Because once she’s got your money you’re not getting it back for any reason.
